Is There Seller Exhaustion?

Stocks came off their lows as the House hearings with Geithner and Bernanke began about 10:30 ET, and improved throughout the morning.

Traders attribute the gains off the lows to several factors:

1) Both Geithner and Bernanke sounded better, more confident and better prepared; they were not as easily pushed around as they were in previous hearings.

2) Rep. Frank, in a somewhat offhand remark, noted that they would seek to clarify that there would be no retractive rules applied to people who participated in the public/private partnership and the TALF, seeking to draw a line between those who take the TARP money, and those who participate in other government programs.

This is obviously something the Street cares about; recall that markets rallied yesterday about 3 PM, when it was reported that Republican Whip John Kyl would seek at least a 1-week delay on debating bills for special taxes on AIGbonuses.